Deku's Kisses

Kaminari Denki

One thing that Kaminari knew for certain was that he had never been the sharpest knife or the brightest bulb around. Sure, he didn't necessarily think he was dumb but he liked to think that he had a healthy understanding of self awareness. Despite what others may think. He knew from a young age that he had to work harder than most people to reach the grades that he hoped for. At first, the blond would spend hours holed up in his room studying, and studying, and studying until he felt that he physically could not cram any more information into his little electrical brain. Some nights he would feel a dull throbbing in his hand from writing and rewriting his notes. Other nights he'd camp out at his desk in his bedroom and work on math equations until he quite literally short circuited.
It started in elementary school. Kaminari would get called on to read aloud in front of the class and he would stumble over his words. Sometimes taking twice as long as the other students needed just to be able to choke out a single paragraph from his textbook. It was a wonder to him how anyone could get any work done with how the words seemed to swim across his pages. Letters like w's and m's liked to switch with each other mid sentence while he read. Soon enough his teachers started calling on him less and less. Maybe they felt that they were doing the blond boy a favor, but it only served to make him feel even more confused. As time went on less teachers tried to explain passages or go over homework with him. Some even going as far as telling him that he was a lost cause and that he should spend more time reading alone.
Kaminari realized that if academics wasn't going to be his strong suit then he needed something else to make him stand out. He needed something for other people to focus on so that he wouldn't get made fun of. Pretty quickly afterwards he decided that maybe if he could get people to laugh with him then they would stop laughing at him. For the most part his plan had worked. He started spending less time at his desk and more time with his peers. He found that the more he joked around and made himself known as the self proclaimed 'class clown', the more people he attracted.
Middle school was a turning point for the blond boy. He started making friends who he thought would stick around for a while, who he felt genuinely enjoyed his company. Kaminari finally felt that he was fitting in. He also felt just as lonely because in the back of his mind he was still confused as to why he felt the need to hide. The electric kid never quite felt at ease with others, especially while discussing grades or plans for high school. Often when he would mention that he would be applying to U.A people would giggle and mention that while he does have a cool quirk, he still needed the grades to pass the written portion of the exam.
During his third and last year of middle school he found himself talking with his mother about his worries. How he was scared that he wasn't good enough. How he was nervous that he would never be smart enough. How no matter how hard he tried he never could catch all the letters that ran away on the page. How he couldn't explain the reason why he still struggled at differentiating his left from his right. How he felt like he was the only one struggling. Tears streamed down his pale face, every once in a while leaving behind a slight sizzle as remnants of his quirk started to show. After hearing just how much her child was struggling, Kaminari's mother scheduled an appointment with his doctor. Listing off details on his study habits and other happenings of his school life to the professional, the blond was finally given some clarity.
Dyslexia. That's what his doctor had told him. Kaminari wasn't stupid, or dumb, or lazy, or even a lost cause, he was just a boy who finally understood why he was having trouble. He could work with having a diagnosis because at least he knew he wasn't the only one. Someone somewhere was having the exact same trouble as he does and another person somewhere even though they struggle with his same issues had found a way to overcome them. The blond had found a new spark. He noticed that reading off of a screen was easier for him so with special permission from his school he was able to use a tablet to download textbooks for his classes. He was allotted extra time for tests and exams that were given to him on paper after his teachers were informed. Finally he wasn't so alone.
       However, just because he now knew why he was having issues didn't mean that they all were solved. Once again the boy found himself sat at his desk trying to catch up on work that he never could fully understand. He took countless mock exams and made flash cards to test himself further. He wrote and rewrote words that he felt he had the most trouble with, in hopes that sheer muscle memory could get him through a time crunch essay if needed.  Eventually he started to see less disappointment in his teachers eyes, less judgment, less pity for the boy who was deemed hardly literate just the year before.
       While his grades improved greatly, Kaminari still was no genius. Still, after studying and studying some more he never would find himself reaching over the score of a simple 'B' on his assignments. He would still be fairly happy with his grade, he was content knowing that it really was just his intellect holding him back now that he had found a few ways to counteract his dyslexia. He could live with not being the smartest. He could live with understanding himself even if he still wasn't completely happy with who he was.
       To the astonishment of those around him, the boy with the electrical quirk had passed the exam. He would be allowed to attend U.A. He would get his chance of becoming a hero. People flocked to him even more now that they felt he would actually grow to be somebody important. The blond found himself swarmed with "don't forget us when you're famous" and people claiming to have "known he was destined for greatness" since he was small. Though he knew that it wasn't true, people didn't really believe in him, he soaked up the praise anyway. Enjoying the acceptance that he had earned.
         To be frank, Kaminari thought that the hard part was over. He thought that once he made it into his dream school that it would be smooth sailing after. Sure he knew he would have to study and honestly he wasn't really too bummed about it. He had grown used to being cooped up at his desk by now and had developed a rather slow study routine. Every other day he would crack his online textbook for roughly two to three hours to look over notes and do homework. What he hadn't expected was for his workload to double.
       He had an inkling of a feeling that high school would be a bit harder than middle school, but he thought classes would mostly be focused on fighting villains and saving lives. Kaminari never really thought about the regular aspects of high school that tag along with the hero aspects and soon enough he found himself drowning in armfuls of homework each night. Finding a study partner was one thing that the blond decided was crucial. If he could find someone willing to put up with him then they not only could bounce ideas off of each other and help out while studying, but he felt it was a sure fire way to make connections.
         The first person who he sought out was a bubbly red head with sharp teeth but soon after  he found that the red haired boy named Kirishima seemed just as troubled as he was. The next was their class president, Iida. Which quickly backfired because while Iida was a very smart and willing study partner, Kaminari felt as though the engine quirked boy was light years ahead of him and would explain things much too quickly for Kaminari. Bakugou quickly shut the door in his face when he asked to hang out. Mina was only slightly better than Kirishima but not really enough to help the blond. Finally he found himself standing in front of a certain green haired boy's dorm room.
      Midoriya Izuku was not someone who the blond would consider intimidating from a distance. Sure, the guy was buff as shit but honestly he looked soft and slightly animal like.  Kaminari felt that the anxious tendencies and slight muttering that Midoriya had goin' on was very rabbit like. He always felt that the green eyed boy was on edge, skittish in a way where he was always ready to run. Which he did. All the time. The blond soon found out the his classmate would run and rush into the first sign of danger if it meant that he could help someone. It certainly wasn't the looks of the boy that intimidated Kaminari. It was his intellect and sheer determination that made the blond's fist shake as he lightly knocked on the door in front of him.
       A quick conversation was all it took to convince Midoriya to take him as a study partner. He wondered why the green haired boy was so eager to help out, it wasn't a secret that Midoriya or Deku as Bakugou dubbed him, was one of the smartest in class. Kaminari could recall that Midoriya was consistently in the top three scores in all their classes. He could also recall that on the rare occasion that he could actually decipher the mumbling that tumbled out of the short boy's mouth, that he would be rambling and analyzing hero fights or fellow classmates. His brain never seemed to stop. So it only made sense that before their first study session the lightening bolt blond was a bit nervous.
        Midoriya was a god send. Kaminari was completely sure that the small green boy was the sole reason why he was passing most of his classes. Deku was the absolute best teacher. He didn't care that the blond had dyslexia. He didn't care that the blond needed things explained to him multiple times and often in multiple different ways. He never raised his voice or even seemed annoyed when the blond asked him to go over something that they had already covered in a previous session. He never made the blond feel stupid. He always encouraged the blond when he finally would grasp a concept. He always rewarded the blond with a tight hug when presented the slowly climbing grades of his friend. All in all Midoriya Izuku was exactly what Kaminari Denki needed.
        The blond was extremely excited for his upcoming study session with his friend whom he was steadily growing closer to. They had spent hours upon hours working on their respective projects for class, a simple essay describing the hero that influenced them the most. While Midoriya's pick came as a shock to no one, his All Might essay was over twenty pages and was single spaced. They were not required to present their essays -for this Kaminari thanked whatever deity may reside above him for sparing him the embarrassment- so Midoriya had no clue who his study partner chose. Little did he know that hero Deku had already made quite the impression. Kaminari couldn't help but write a five page essay on his class mate, Izuku Midoriya, depicting not only the academic influence that the hero had had on him but also the emotional one. The constant support that Midoriya gave him. The blond genuinely felt that he was a better person because of Deku, his friend pushed him to be the very best that he could be. Kaminari planned on leaving the essay with Midoriya so that he could see the influence that he was already making. Yeah, the electrical blond was rather nervous to put his gratitude out in the open but he knew for certain that the geenette would never think anything low of him.
       The next day was something that Kaminari would remember for quite a while. The previous night he had chickened out about delivering his essay to Midoriya, instead he decided to wait until midnight to slip it under the green eyed boy's door for him to find in the morning.
When the sun finally rose the next day the blond was not expecting to be woken up by soft knocks from his door. Once it was opened it released a teary eyed Izuku Midoriya decked out in his All Might pajama set. The next events happened fast but left the blond in a daze. Midoriya had flung himself at Kaminari as soon as the door allowed him too, the hug was tight, warm, and welcoming. A slew of jumbled words sped out of the smaller boy's mouth as his tears began to dampen the blond's shirt. Kaminari found one of his hands clutching Midoriya close while the other held the greenette's head to his chest. Kaminari tried his hardest to listen to his friend but found that Midoriya was not stopping anytime soon. Instead of answering the boy with words, Kaminari started peppering the smaller boy's curly hair with feather light kisses and eventually moved on to whispering "thank you", "I meant every word", and "I don't mind that my shirt is wet" in his ear. Repeating each one more times than he could care to count.
          Maybe Kaminari wasn't the sharpest knife or the brightest bulb around but it didn't really matter, not when he had his friend  to help tutor him along the way. His hero, Deku.